Hold Fast
by dreamingblueflames
Summary: When the only things in life that you can count on are your own two hands and a group of friends, all that you can do is hang on to what you have and hope the ride ahead is smoother than it looks. Way post time-skip.


Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the cannon characters.

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Chapter One: A what?

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"Sensei, what's going on down there?" the young voice of a genin asked from the roof top.

"Shut up and watch Takeshi," came from the woman who was staring intently at the scene set before them.

"But. . ." another genin interjected, "What's so cool about someone writing all over themselves? And why are there so many here to watch, Sensei?" the young girl shifted from side to side, standing between Takeshi and the other boy genin, all three impatiently looking between their jounin sensei and the other ninja along the roofs and in the trees surrounding the old district.

A gruff laugh from a man to the trio's right gained their focus. Amusement and a little bit of pity was apparent in his voice when he spoke all the while not breaking eye contact from the proceedings down below them, "There are so many ninja here because we want to witness something that is truly fascinating and dangerous. No one has performed something like this in over twenty years. For you to see one is a gift that you shouldn't be wasting by talking."

The last genin's face scrunched up in confusion. "To witness what? I don't know what they're doing down there!" he yelled back at the jounin that was speaking to them.

"A sealing, boy. A large scale sealing. And on a person no less!" the team's sensei irritably retorted. "Those are very rare, because if the seals are not perfect it could kill the person receiving the seals."

The boy was quiet for a moment before he asked another question of his sensei, "Okay Sensei, but why are they doing the sealing in the old Uchiha place?" Looking back down at the going on's again to observe, intently waiting for something cool to happen.

"Ugh! Don't you genin know when anything around the village happens?" the second jounin exclaimed while putting his scarred face in his hands. "This district isn't called the Uchiha district anymore. It was given to a group of jounin and is now called the Orange District. They're doing the sealing there because shortly after the group got the land, they set up some high level barriers to only let certain people in."

Instantly tearing her eyes away from the sealing, "Iruka, do you mean.. You mean that _they_ own this land now?" the team's sensei asked the other jounin quietly.

Looking over at the jounin's incredulous face, Iruka calmly replied, "Yeah, Kurenai. Almost all twelve of them live there too. I was asked to move in a few days ago by a couple of them. I'm surprised that they haven't asked you too. Kakashi and Gai moved in a week or two back also. It seems that they're going to get all of their teachers in one spot with them."

"Who are they Kurenai-Sensei? Who are the jounin?" Takeshi asked. "Why do they wanna live in the creepy Uchiha district anyway?"

Iruka looked back down at the people setting up the area in the district. "The jounin who received the district and now live here are commonly called by the other jounin 'the Rookies' either nine or twelve."

"The '_Rookies_'?" the girl questioned, "How can it be nine _or_ twelve?"

Kurenai sighed before responding, "They are called 'Rookies' because they all moved through the ranks very quickly. The nine comes from the group that graduated from the academy together and took the chunin exam as rookies and twelve if you count the team that is a year ahead of the other nine. All of them received the title of jounin before age 16 and now hold key spots in our military. They are a powerful group that trusts each member completely. One of them is also the last Uchiha, which might explain the reason for living in this district."

"Wow, Sensei! They must be really strong! How come I've . . ." Takeshi began only to be cut off by Iruka.

"_Shh!_ It's going to start now! Just watch because it wont last long," Iruka told the genin. 'I hope you do this right Naruto,' he whispered in a silent prayer to whatever god might be listening to him.

If you have any questions, feel free to review and I'll try to make things clearer.

(Written 04-04-08)

-dbf


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